Opinion

Op-Ed: On domestic violence front, more work is needed

(JTA) — Thirty years ago, a Jewish woman experiencing domestic violence had few places to turn. Community leaders strongly resisted acknowledging violence for fear that it would harm marriages and break up families. Few services existed for women seeking support in a Jewish setting. Prior to 1994, the U.S.… Read more »

Press neglect of Chomsky talks perplexing

I have been watching for reactions from the Arizona Jewish Post about Noam Chomsky’s well-attended appearances at the University of Arizona. I attended both of his lectures and was impressed with the large crowds … completely filled halls for his lectures on language and education. Dr. Chomsky was introduced… Read more »

If Israel admits to nukes, will Iran?

Israel’s best kept secret is not of the “maybe yes, maybe no” variety. In fact it is a “yes” so definitive that it has 162 million Google entries. Honest. That’s Google’s response when you type in “Israel’s nuclear policy” — books, articles, essays, arguments, all blithely recognizing that Israel… Read more »

Medicaid reforms need not undermine services

WASHINGTON (JTA) — During February, Jewish communities across North America observe Jewish Disability Awareness Month. It is an opportunity for us to raise awareness of the needs, strengths, opportunities and challenges of individuals with disabilities in our communities, and to ensure we are building more inclusive communities that celebrate… Read more »

‘Sinister’ statements treasonous

Regarding Uriel Heilman’s article “Extreme column raises question: Why do some Jews see Obama as sinister?” in the Jan. 27 issue of the Arizona Jewish Post: That headline caught my attention but did not answer the question as to why they said what they said! I was shocked to… Read more »

Heilman story fans vicious flames

I hope I’m not the only reader who was offended by the article by Uriel Heilman. While reporting on a wholly deplorable piece that appeared in the Atlanta Jewish Times, Heilman appears to give credence to the canard that President Obama is a secret Muslim bent on destroying Israel.… Read more »

Publishing Heilman story shameful

Dr. Varady is certainly not the only one outraged by the article attempting to justify the accusations and scurrilous remarks about our President. You should be ashamed of publishing an article which is on the level of the Elders of Zion. President Obama in my opinion has been extremely… Read more »

Israeli seeks I.D. for Tucson kin

                                                                                                  I live in Jerusalem. During a search for family roots, I found pictures of several unknown relatives. On the back is of one printed, “Gabusi Studio, W.… Read more »

Bone marrow registration essential

Regarding the Jan. 13 article, “Tucsonan donates stem cells twice, enlists fellow Jews in Gift of Life Program,” I am writing to express my admiration for Bryan Jaret-Schacter for his selfless stem cell donations to the Gift of Life Foundation. His message to the community is so very important.… Read more »

Op-Ed: Ultranationalists have no place in Russian protest movement

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A spate of recent media reports has discussed the inclusion of ultranationalists in the Russian protest movement. Jewish organizations, sensitive to the fragility of a newly emergent Russian civil society and Jewish community, need to speak out against this inclusion. Ultranationalism and xenophobia are not unique… Read more »

On Arab anti-Semitism, from indifference to complicity

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The link between hatred of Jews and of the only Jewish state often requires little conjecture. This is particularly so in the Arab world, where cultivated popular anti-Semitism has been ignored abroad as an impetus of regional conflict. For evidence that anti-Israel sentiment in the Middle… Read more »

Haredi leaders must speak out against zealots

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The recent violence in Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood has led me to speak out against the so-called “sikrikim” in the harshest possible terms, equating their actions to terrorism. Sikrikim is the name given to a fringe anti-Zionist vigilante group, loosely linked to Neturei… Read more »

Colleges playing catch-up on Israel

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Just as college students were finishing their winter exams, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg selected a partnership of The Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University to build a campus on Roosevelt Island that will become a global center for technological talent and entrepreneurship.  Few… Read more »

Op-Ed: Israel must criminalize the purchase of sexual services

RAMAT GAN, Israel (JTA) — In Israel, an estimated 15,000 individuals are involved in prostitution, including 5,000 under the age of 18, according to reports shared with the Task Force on Human Trafficking by Knesset member Orit Zuaretz of the Kadima Party, as well as other experts and activists.… Read more »

Extreme column raises question: Why do some Jews see Obama as sinister?

When news outlets began reporting last Friday that the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times had published an opinion column seemingly suggesting that Israel might be wise to assassinate President Obama, the response from prominent American Jews was fast and furious. Here was a Jewish newspaper publisher providing fodder… Read more »

Islamist rise casts shadow over Egypt

Robert Wistrich

The Muslim Brotherhood did not initiate the current upheavals in the Middle East, but the Islamist parties in Egypt, as in Tunisia and Libya, have been the chief beneficiaries of the collapse of longstanding authoritarian repressive regimes across North Africa. In Egypt itself, the two largest Islamist groups —… Read more »

Why Jews should care about the rights of Israeli Arabs

Rabbi Sid Schwarz

About a year and half ago, I participated in a fact-finding mission to Israel sponsored by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arabs (IATF). Established in 2006 as a consortium of some of the major organizations in American Jewish life — including the Joint Distribution Committee, the Conference of… Read more »

Exploiting the memory of child Holocaust victims is obscene

NEW YORK (JTA) — It is virtually impossible to imagine anything more reprehensible than the recent spectacle of haredi Orthodox Jewish boys wearing yellow stars of David and simulated striped black-and-white concentration camp uniforms at a demonstration in Jerusalem. Offended by the Israeli authorities’ efforts to curtail the verbal… Read more »

Unity is vital for harmony in Beit Shemesh, all of Israel

BEIT SHEMESH (JTA) — It’s raining as I write — a rare, cold, hard rain that is welcomed by Jerusalemites who know that it’s good for them and the country. Water, like patience, is a treasured commodity here in Israel: temporarily inconvenient, but better for you in the long… Read more »

Land-for-peace hoax crumbling

The rise of the forces of jihadist Islam in Egypt places the United States and other Western powers in an uncomfortable position. The United States is the guarantor of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. That treaty is based on the proposition of land for peace. Israel gave Egypt Sinai… Read more »